Can Foreign Nationals still get an FFC?

Hi Property Practitioners!

We are delivering news directly from the PPRA this time.

I am sure that most of you have now either read the new Property Practitioners Act yourself or at least have attended some training on the Act. We at Agent Aid have certainly read the new Act and all subsequent Practice notes and Regulations.

But, somehow, this particular topic was definitely missed.

Section 50(a)(i) of the Property Practitioners Act reads as follows:

"50. The Authority may not issue a Fidelity Fund certificate to—

(a) any person who—

(i) is not a South African citizen and does not lawfully reside in the

Republic;"

Now, this section can be very subjective, but the use of the word 'AND', and not 'OR', implies very clearly that you have to be a South African Citizen to be issued with an FFC.

As far as we know, this definitely applies to any new application brought forward for registrations.

We are unsure at the moment what this will mean for existing Property Practitioners trading with valid FFC's already, but the logical conclusion will be that these Property Practitioners will not be able to renew their FFC's for 2023.

There is, however, a kind of 'loophole' in the new Property Practitioners Act that clearly states that any person may apply for exemption form any part of the Property Practitioners Act, and the application must be considered. The considerations to be made by the PPRA includes if the granting of the exemption is in the interest of Justice, which we believe is easy to prove in this particular case.

If you know of anyone who may be in jeopardy of losing their FFC due to this rule, please have them reach out to the PPRA using the email addresses: ffc.complaints@theppra.org.za and registrations@theppra.org.za and lodge an official complaint, and maybe when there is enough complaints, the PPRA will have to do something about this matter.

With Love,